Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1611: Playing Tricks with Box Office Figures
Finally, GoldenEye is opening in more than 2600 theaters across the United States. James Bond fans have been looking forward to this event for years. The last 007 movie was six years and four months ago.

Considering that the previous Bond actor, Timothy Dalton, was not handsome, and the story of the movie had many dark elements, such as 007's good friend being killed by a killer and he had no way to stop it, many fans actually did not admit that this was the authentic 007 series.

If we exclude these two movies, the last 007 played by Roger Moore was The Spy Who Loved Me, which was released exactly ten years ago...

Moreover, after Roger Moore retired, Pierce Brosnan was widely considered to be a suitable actor for 007. The detective TV series The Legend of Remington Steele, in which he played a role, had high ratings, so NBC forced him to renew his contract for one year.

In addition, producer Albert Broccoli Sr. mistakenly believed that 007 should return to a colder and more realistic image of an agent, so he replaced him with Timothy Dalton.

This decision was met with dissatisfaction from most fans back then. Now we can finally see the Brosnan version of 007 that everyone has been looking forward to on the big screen. Many fans made real-life cheering boards of Brosnan, put up GoldenEye posters, and cheered at the entrance of the theater...

Of course, the luckiest ones are the audience at Radio City Music Hall in the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York.

This huge concert hall, which can accommodate 6000 people, had originally not shown movies, but Ronald's New United Artists spent a large sum of money to rent it and renovate the screen and projection equipment for the premiere of GoldenEye.

This is also the first time that the 18th 007 movie has its world premiere in New York. Fans are very enthusiastic about Pierce Brosnan, asking him for autographs and photos before the screening, and are also very enthusiastic about the two Bond girls, Famke Janssen and Isabella Scoluppo.

Only the villain, Bond's former colleague, who died in an enemy military base and actually rebelled, Sean Bean, who played Alec Trevelyan, had little presence, so Ronald had to chat with him to avoid embarrassment.

After the premiere, thousands of fans gathered at Radio City Music Hall to party as their beloved James Bond returned.

The film's creators and stars finally managed to break away from the enthusiastic crowd of fans, got in the car and rushed to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to attend the post-screening party.

Ronald also came to New York and took a vacation with Helen. The location of this party was also chosen by Helen to commemorate their acquaintance.

The film received a good response in New York, and fans generally forgot about Darden, who only starred in two films in between, and only compared Pierce Brosnan with Sean Connery and Roger Moore, saying that he has both Sean Connery's tough skills and Roger Moore's cool and handsome, and most importantly, the British gentleman's sense of humor in 007 is back.

Such a good review shows that GoldenEye's 007 renovation has won the approval of movie fans. Ronald is very confident about the box office, and he discussed with his colleagues at New United Artists and prepared to do a free marketing promotion.

The box office figures of movies published in The Hollywood Reporter are all reported by the distribution companies after being counted. Because this involves the next week's film schedule and the fairness of the film industry, the distributors will not destroy the rules of the game that are beneficial to all parties just to falsify the box office of a movie, so the figures are generally correct.

However, this time Ronald wanted to blatantly modify the box office figures.

By the time The Hollywood Reporter went to press on Sunday evening, the domestic box office figures for GoldenEye's opening weekend had been delivered to the editorial office.

"26, 205, 007?"

The editor in charge of the box office chart laughed out loud when he saw this number. The last three digits of the box office were artificially adjusted to "007" to match the marketing promotion of the entire movie.

After the relaunch of the New United Arts brand, the first large-scale commercial film released by the studio has a marketing stunt, which seems to be discussed in the industry for a long time.

Sure enough, this trick was mentioned in many news reports and film reviews the next day, earning free news coverage and TV time.

Many fans were unaware that the eighteenth Bond film was released, and only after hearing the news did they consider going to the cinema to watch it.

At this time, Roger Ebert's film review from the Chicago Sun-Times played a key role. He had a high opinion of Pierce Brosnan and gave it three stars (out of four). He also said that the Bond he played was the most normal one.

"The fifth 007, played by Pierce Brosnan, is somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete than the Bonds played by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. Their respective styles are cold and ruthless. Brosnan's Bond seems to be at ease in the casinos in Monte Carlo, but he understands interpersonal relationships better and is more aware of what his job is..."

Roger Ebert also gave fans every reason to watch it, "The results are not dull. The special effects and stunts are certainly satisfyingly spectacular, including smooth shots of high-tech helicopters being stolen, chases between cars and tanks, collisions between tanks and trains, and unexpected surprises such as a Russian country western bar, accompanied by American pop music with a Slavic accent..."

Albert's partner Cisco praised Pierce Brosnan, saying that he was a marked improvement over his predecessor and that he "possessed a wit that went along with his natural charm..."

The New York Times film review praised the film's modernity, saying that Bond's boss M's comment on 007 as a "sexist, misogynistic dinosaur" was simply the best comment on Bond in the first 17 or 18 Bond films (if you include the unofficial Casino Royale starring George Lazenby). Pierce Brosnan's performance gave Bond "some humanity"...

The British media were undoubtedly the ones who praised GoldenEye the most. They praised this movie that British movie fans had been looking forward to for a long time.

Empire magazine said the film "recreates the spirit of the invincible British Empire" and that the Die Hard series "can't possibly compare to 007".

The Sunday Times even called it the best Bond film since The Living Daylights (The Spy Who Loved Me is considered by some to be Roger Moore's best film).

They all ended by saying they were looking forward to the royal premiere in London in two weeks...

Six years of accumulated fan energy and generally positive reviews made the box office in the first weekend a pleasant surprise, with the average box office per theater reaching nearly $10,000. Considering the slow box office period in the week before Thanksgiving, this result broke the record for the same period in history.

The entire production and distribution teams held a celebration party in the second week, and Barbara Broccoli immediately proposed to Ronald the idea of ​​preparing a sequel.

"Ronald, let's strike while the iron is hot. Where do you think the next Bond movie should go? Which country's Bond girl would be best?"

"How about going to Hong Kong? The sovereignty of Hong Kong will be transferred in 1997. It will touch the sensitive nerves of the British people and please the audience with the world's largest box office potential. I think it's time to find a Bond girl who is more capable than Bond."

"Oh, great idea, do you really want the Bond girl to be more powerful than 007?" Barbara Broccoli was shocked by the bold idea.

"Why not? You see, we found Judi Dench to play M, which won many film critics' praise and the audience's response to her was also very positive. In the new era, women can do many jobs that were traditionally done by men...

Besides, don’t you think it’s a very satisfying story for Bond fans to see 007 conquer a Bond girl who is even more powerful than him?”

"Hahaha, you always have a very unique understanding of the psychology of male movie fans. I agree with your idea..."

Barbara Broccoli also deepened her understanding of Ronald's proposal. This way of thinking was a way of thinking that she had never seen before among Hollywood producers. Perhaps this was one of the secrets to Ronald's frequent box office success in Hollywood?

"But where can you find a beautiful actress with good skills to play the Bond girl in your mind?"

This is a very practical issue. Bond movies traditionally use female models or amateur actors to play Bond girls. Their acting skills may be average, but they are indeed very beautiful and are indispensable beautiful vases.

But it's not easy to be able to fight and have a look that matches that of a Bond girl.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to Jackie Chan. He knows a lot of beautiful female stars who are good at fighting." Ronald seemed to have an impression that there was a female star in one of his movies who was better than him at doing dangerous stunts, but he didn't know how good her English was.

"That's good..." Barbara wanted to talk to Ronald for a few more words, but when she saw Ronald smiling and extending his hand for Helen Slater to hold, she stopped talking and prepared to go back and find someone to prepare the script, and then discuss it with Ronald specifically.

Ronald and Helen enjoyed two days of family life with their daughter Linda, and then he took Helen Slater to Martha's Vineyard to meet some upper-class friends.

However, they did not go to the most famous Famneck Golf Club on the island where Martha's Vineyard is located, which has many former President members. Instead, they went to the Mink Golf Club, which has only nine holes and is suitable for families.

There, he also had a doubles match with David Letterman and his family, Spike Lee and his wife Tanya, and others.

"Hey, I say, when can you find some good players for the New York Knicks?" Spike Lee was very dissatisfied with this year's playoffs. They were second in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, but were defeated by the Indiana Pacers. In the end, it was their old rival, Jordan's Bulls, who won the championship.

"What I said doesn't count, Spike. The Knicks still have a shareholder, but if I had full control, I would find a way to get rid of Ewing and free up salary to sign a real superstar."

"You want to send Ewing away? He is the symbol of the Knicks..." Spike Lee was very dissatisfied. In his eyes, Ewing was a symbol of New York's loyalty.

"What if I trade for Michael?" Ronald smiled but said nothing. What loyalty is nothing more than a self-consoling excuse for fans because of poor results and unwillingness to spend money.

"What, you want to get Michael over here? Are you serious? Can you really convince Michael to come over? Ronald, if you can dig him over here and bring the championship back to New York, I will..."

"I'm just making an analogy. It seems that Ewing is not completely impossible to be traded, right?" In fact, what Ronald disliked most was the slow, boring, defense-first playing style of former coach Riley.

Moreover, after Riley was eliminated from the playoffs this summer, he secretly colluded with the Miami Heat, and finally did not even have the courage to resign in person, but sent a fax and left. Ronald is now pursuing legal action to make this incompetent coach who only knows how to use the main players pay the price.

The current head coach is Don Nelson, the former head coach of the 1994 national team (Dream Team II). His coaching style is fast and changeable offense, which conflicts with the defense-first team led by Ewing. Ronald admires Don Nelson's coaching style and is ready to further acquire shares. After gaining absolute control, he will completely rebuild and build a Knicks team with good offense to attract fans and spread endorsements...

After all, the Knicks' games were much more exciting under Nelson's coaching.

Just at this moment, there was a cheer in front, and Ronald looked over and found that it was Donna and Douglas Jr. who also came to Martha's Vineyard for vacation. This made everyone feel awkward.

"Let me ask you, where is Diane? Aren't you shy about bringing Helen with you now?" Donna grabbed Ronald's sleeve and pulled him aside.

"I have invited Diane several times, but unfortunately all her energy is now focused on the movie with Tom Cruise. She is now making the final revisions to the script with director Cameron Crowe. Cruise has finished filming Mission: Impossible and is back for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen Linda for a long time..."

Ronald explained pathetically to his cousin.

"Hmph, you have a point. Little Doug is here, and he wants to talk to you about something..."

Watching her husband Doug Jr. and Ronald chatting together, Donna ran to call Diane and warned her not to relax too much.

"I know. This is what I promised to do when I married him, to give him some time every year. He's going back to Los Angeles soon, and I'm going to London with him to see Diana." Diane was not jealous, but Ronald respected her very much, so she just pretended not to see such things.

"You, oh, by the way, I heard from Ronald that you are going to work with Tom Cruise on the next movie. Is he handsome in real life?"

"Of course he is handsome. Let me tell you, Tom Cruise actually pursued me back then and invited me to be the heroine of his movie, but I remembered that he had ugly teeth, so I didn't agree..."

"You and my cousin were having sex then..."

On the other side, Ronald was chatting with little Doug while looking at Donna over there.

"Did you hear everything I said?" Little Doug said a lot, but Ronald seemed absent-minded.

"Ah, what did you say?"

“I said Rudy has been mayor for almost two years, and it’s time for him to fulfill his promise to Staten Island.”